Sword Art Online: Klein Editiion
by Gfellha
Summary: When the death game known as Sword Art Online started, there were ten thousand players trapped inside. Klein was but one of those players, but despite all odds he did all he could to aid the world of Aincrad, to get everyone to strive for a future outside of these digital walls. Rebooted.
1. Chapter 1, Reboot

I am rewriting all the previous chapters, and expanding on the story with information from the progressive SAO light novels, as well as correcting and changing a few things from the previously written chapters. While there will be things that will be the same, there will be new material, so I recommend reading through it all.

Thank you, Gfellha

* * *

"Your look suits you ten times better too!"

That was the last phrase Klein heard from Kirito before he bolted off down the alleyway. Should I have gone with him? The red haired player wondered to himself as he turned his back and took a deep breath. Exhaling that same breath, Klein forced his legs to walk forward retracing the steps back to the main plaza. I can't leave my friends in this death game alone.

I have to find them.

The other players were going haywire, people were shouting, crying, and denying that this virtual game, this dream, had turned into a nightmare with little chance of escape. Klein fought through the crowds, forcing his way back into the center plaza. He hoped that friends were still there. It would be almost impossible to find them if they all left the main area.

In the main plaza, there were still a multitude of people. Many had collapsed, crying against the ground, shouting for their parents, others had taken to trying to attack the city's walls to no avail.

Suddenly from the corner of his eye, Klein noticed a similar shape. Quickly his attention was turned towards the being, a small grin grew across his face as he recognized him. Dale, one of Klein's online friends. Quickly I hurried over, my arm waving excitedly.

"Dale! It's me! Tsuboi Ryōtarō!" Klein call out to him.

As he turned towards Klein, there was a hint of terror etched in his eyes, though at the sight of his friend, it lessened somewhat.

Dale was a large man, whatever his avatar was before it was different now. He had his real body which was quite large and round. Dale had brown hair and his eyes were a hazel hue.

"Tsuboi? God am I glad to see you! Did you hear? Can you believe? It can't be true can it?"

It didn't take long for Klein to reach his position, and seeing the look in his eyes he knew he couldn't revoke all of Dale's hopes.

"I don't know…it could be, it could be just a big hoax…but it might be safe to play it safe until we really know where we are. By the way, what's your in-game name Dale? Mine's Klein."

"Me? I was able to snag Dale actually." He sounded so smug at the fact he'd used his real name "The others? We met up pretty early on, but they went off to look for you throughout the city. We hoped you hadn't…well, died. I'll send you an invite to our group."

A moment later a notification appeared before Klein, an invite. He accepted it instantly, and soon he noticed the names of other players in the group. Issin, and Dynamm. It was reassuring for Klein to see that they were all here. "Alright, let's round everyone up. We must survive we all have to get out of here."

It did not take long to gather everyone, all of his friends, in one place. This was the same place where Kirito had trained me to fight, those blue boars roaming around were quite good for learning.

He glanced about between them and smiled. "Hey everyone, I'm glad to see you're all still here, but we don't have time to rest. We should try and work to survive and complete this game…so I can get my pizza. Who knows how to actually play the game?"

Klein's gaze traveled between each of his friends as he waited for an answer. Issin was about the same age as him. He had a narrow face, and his body was a lot lankier then his own.

Slowly his gaze drifted toward Dynamm. Most of his hair was covered by a red bandanna. He also had two little streaks of hair jutting out, forming his mustache, as well a few visible hairs on his chin. That bandanna and mustache reminded Klein of a French pirate.

Klein's trainees glanced nervously at each other, hoping someone would speak up. It seemed none of them knew how to fight.

Klein couldn't help but feel nostalgic at this scene. The wide open plains, the blue haired boars wandering around, though to Klein's surprise, the area was still barren of players except for Klein and his friends.

Turning to Dale, Issin, and Dayamm. Klein began his introduction speech.

"Well, I didn't think I'd be the one standing here giving you this lecture to be frankly, I thought the friend I made would be helping me here. Though, he shot it out of the starting city once this…this death game started. So I'll pass on his knowledge to all of you guys."

"What's his name?" Dayamm asked in a quick instant.

"Oh, his name is Kirito? But that's not important now. He's off on his own, but I'm sure we'll meet again. He's not gonna die out there."

Taking a deep breath, Klein got back on topic. "So first off, you can't swing the sword randomly, while that will deal damage if you connect, it won't deal that much in comparison to a sword skill. Swords are also a lot faster, generally, then swinging your sword around. Let me show you my sword skill, Reaver."

As one of the blue boars walked close, Klein brandished his curved sword, and smirked. Moving his hand holding the blade back, Klein activated the sword skill Reaver.

The curved blade turned a hue of yellowish orange, and the games auto aim system controlled his movements. Suddenly, he shot forward his blade slicing through the blue boars form, slicing it.

The boar was knocked off to the side, but it wasn't finished yet, grunting to its feet it charged towards Klein.

Since Reaver was a basic sword skill, it's Post-Motion state did not last long, so Klein was able to launch a second sword skill to finish it off.

The blue boar, as it was speared by Klein's blade, snorted loudly, and a red line flashed through and then, suddenly, the boar exploded into a series of pixels as it faded from the existence of this world.

Dale, Dayamm, and Issin all cheered. Klein couldn't help but chuckle, it was a simple creature, a simple mob. It was nothing to cheer for.

"Alright, well, I feel like I should mention this now, there is a down side to sword skills. While they can deal more damage than just swinging, and it auto locks onto the target, there is a cool down state for it. While its short, it does stop you from being able to protect yourself from a counter attack. The skill I used, Reaver, was a basic skill so it's Post-Motion state is rather short. Though I assume that higher level sword skills will have a longer cool down state. So, as we level, we will have to wary of that."

"Now, let me see your weapons."

Issin brandished his spear, holding it's long hilt with one hand, and Klein's eyes moved over inspecting Dayamm, who also held a curved blade in his hand, before, finally, his attention was brought to Dale, who was wielding a weapon that looked like a cleaver sword.

"Alright, Issin, your weapon is fairly simple, it's a spear, I imagine it has a base sword skill that's like a jab, or a thrust, so you gotta figure that out. Dynamm, you have a curved blade like me, so your base sword skill will be Reaver, as for you, Dale, I have no idea what your sword skill would be, so for now, let's find out. I'll watch while you guys train. I'll make sure noon dies, but do not travel to far. It'll be too hard to keep track of you all then.

As they all nodded and went off on their own, Klein was thinking. The large cleaver like weapon that Dale held, was more of a DPS type weapon, and a spear, which is what Issin was using, had only a choice of being a DPS type weapon. So only himself, and Dynamm could tank, since they both cold hold a sword and shield at the same time.

Dynamm was doing the best out of the three trainees, since he was the only one who actually saw his starting sword move used. Klein would talk to him about that later.

Rather, he directed his attention towards Dale. His cleaver like weapon suddenly engulfed in a red hue as it struck one of the boars by the side, sending it cascaded through the air, where the boar burst into nothingness.

"Hey, Dale, nice! What's your sword skill called?" Klein called out to him, as he made his way over. Though, he was still keeping his eye on the others.

"Oh, heh, you won't believe this, it's actually called Cleave."

"Really? Well…I'd say that's rather appropriate since you weapon is a cleaver sword type thing."

"True, true. So, tell me about this guy, Kirito, who taught you."

"Mmm, Kirito, he's an odd fellow to be honest. When we started this game, and went off to explore, I saw that Kirito kid running off as if he knew the place, so I ran after him. In short I got him to teach me the basics of this game."

Pausing for a moment, Klein glanced off across the fields into the distance. He couldn't help but wonder how far Kirito had gotten. Letting out a small sigh, he continued to speak. "

He never said it, but I think he was in the beta for this game. He was too much of a natural to be a new player, so I got lucky. Shame though that he didn't stick with me, but he has to do what he believes is right. Unlike me, all he has is himself in this death game. It's kinda sad when I think about."

Dale nodded, before turning his attention forward. Taking a deep breath he spoke again.

"I have a feeling, it's just a feeling mind you, but I think beta testers are going to get discriminated against in this death game. Human's base instinct is for survival, so since those beta testers know more about this game they will probably use that knowledge to their own benefit to survive. I wouldn't be surprise if there are players who blame them for all the death of brand new players, which isn't right. But keep that in mind when you talk about him. If this hypothesis does come true, you wouldn't want to bring undo animosity towards your friend. So when you refer to him, leave your suspicion that he's a beater tester out of it."

Klein took a deep breath and nodded. "I really hope what you said doesn't come true, but on the off chance that it does happen…. I'll make sure to keep quiet about that Dale."

With that, Klein went off towards Issin who was battling a boar with his spear. He had a nice advantage, since he was able to keep the beast at a distant while striking it with quick jabs. Unlike Dale, Klein, and Dynamm, Issin didn't need to use sword skills as often. That was probably one advantage to the spear.

When facing on enemy, they could easily keep the beast at a distance, but their flaw was when they were engaged in close combat. Though, that didn't happen here as Issin moved in to deal the final blow.

The blue glowed a blueish hue as he thrust forward, screwing the boar before it burst into thin air. Klein smirked. Issin was doing pretty good at this point.

"So, Issin, what's that sword skill called?"

"Oh, it's called Jab just like you thought. Though, I discovered that I don't need to use sword skills as often, since it's easier to keep them at a distance. And you lied."

"I did?"

"Yah, hitting them without a sword skill still does a nice bit of damage. It is really comparable to the sword skills."

"Oh, haha, my bad, but you don't have the auto aim and the increased speed."

"Nope, that's probably the point of it though. So people can still land when they aren't actually skilled with their chosen weapon."

Klein nodded before stretching. "Yah, that makes sense. Though, do you mind if I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you mind taking Picking, Trap Dismantling, and Searching? Dynamm and I will probably tank for now, since in this game it would be a good idea to have two tanks, and the armor choices Dale tends to take tend to conflict with that sort of area, I thought I'd ask you."

Issin let out a small chuckle, before giving a small shrug. "Sure, that's no problem. That was actually something I was wondering about to be honest. Though I think Searching would be a good idea for everyone to have if they can fit it in."

Klein let out a sigh of a relief before giving a small shrug. "Good, good. That makes things a lot easier there. Well, I'ma go see how Dynamm is doing. Gotta see if he's fine with tanking with me for the time being."

After parting from Issin, Klein approached Dynamm, who was, by far, doing the best out of the group. His blade glowed the same hue as Klein's from earlier, and he unleashed Reaver against onto the boars, decimating it and shattering it into thousand of polygons which disappeared in another second.

"Hey, Dynamm, can I talk with you?"

Turning away from the now empty patch of land, the pirate looking fellow offered a small smile and nodded. "Yah, sure what's up?"

"Well, I was thinking. Issin, and Dale can't really tank with their chosen weapons, so I was wondering if you wanted to tank with me, since we're the only ones who can really do the sword and shield combo here."

Dynamm thought for a moment, before giving a small nod. "Alright, that makes sense. I was gonna bring up the standard party of four, but since there aren't any healing classes in the game, two tanks will probably suffice."

"Yah, that was my thoughts exactly. When we're fighting a tough enemy, we can swap out and use the healing items to heal back while the other goes in and tanks."

"That sounds like a pretty reasonable there. Well, we should probably go back to killin these boars. We should try and get as much experience as we can."

Klein gave a small nod, before turning his attention to the wide-open fields. "Yah, the boars aren't too tough. We all have that the boar killing quest, so we should get that done before heading back to town.

Finally, Klein turned his attention to the blue haired beasts and began to engage the boars. Issin, Dale, and Dynamm all continued attacking the boars aswell. It was a simple, and fun way to pass the time.

The boars didn't offer to much experience points, but when they all returned to town, and turned in the boar extermination quest, the gained a new level, reaching level two.

"Wow, leveling is a lot slower then I thought it would have been…sheesh, an entire day, and we only got one level." Klein murmured in a slightly disheartened tone.

Clearing this game was going to be a lot harder then he thought. Hopefully the people on the outside would find some way to break them free of this death game.

Dale, put his hand on Klein's shoulder and offered his friend a small smile. "That's one more level then we had earlier. Think about it like that Klein."

"Hah, I guess that is true Dale. We should look at things in an optimistic fashion."

As they finally passed through the large gates, returning to the massive starter city, Klein was met with a totally different scene then earlier that day.

After the announcement that the game was a death game, everyone was filled with hatred, anger, and panic. But now, it was a much different tone.

As the artificial sun begun to set in the distance, casting a looming shadow over the walls of the starting city, a depressive wave had begun to envelope the city.

Klein was only disheartened even more. He thought that there would be more people who'd be trying to escape, but there were droves of people huddled against the walls, leaning against them, their eyes filled with hopelessness.

"What did we walk into?" Issin murmured, his eyes staring down the roads.

Quickly, Klein shook his head. Were these people really defeated?

That was when someone walked over, his hair was a brown hue, and he had a bit of a boyish look, though due to his height he had to of been around seventeen or so. There was also a two-handed staff on his back.

"Wait, were you out there…. outside the city walls?"

Klein gave him a small nod. "Yes, we were, we were off killing boars."

The man's lips arched into a small smile, and did a small excited glanced. "Yes, so it's not stupidly dangerous out there. Thanks, maybe I can convince my friends to go out there…they were wary, but seeing as there are people who returned….they might be more willing to go."

Klein couldn't help but smile at him. "Yah…if we can survive out there, you can survive to. By the way, I'm Klein."

The other gave a small smile, before turning off. "I'm Keita, hopefully we'll see each other around Klein."

That was when an idea hit Klein. He knew what he wanted to do. Turning to his friend, he smirked. "I have an idea…."

Returning his gaze to the downcast people, and smirked. "If we show these people that we can survive out in the wilds, that may convince other people to do the same. Hmmm, we can even try and teach people the basic skills or something….we can only get out of here if we work as a group. So we need as many people as possible who are willing to venture out into this world as possible. Will you help me?"

They all gave small grins. "Of course we'll help!" Dale exclaimed, before giving a thumbs up.

"Mmmm, maybe I can meet a girl who I can inspire….though I can also pick us each up a shield while I'm at it." Dynamm mused softly, before giving a small shrug.

"I think that's a wonderful idea Klein. Maybe you guys can go off and try and inspire people, and I can do something about working out a training session or something?"

"That works, that totally works. Let's get this done! We'll meet back here after the sun has set."

Klein walked down the streets, his eyes drifting from person to person. Some were more active than others, a few were trying to cheer up their friends.

It was good to know that there were a few who had not lost hope.

Suddenly, the sound of crying assaulted Klein's ear, and he turned to the side and noticed a fifteen-year-old boy huddled up against the wall crying.

Pity whelmed up inside the older man, and he knelt down next to the teen. "Hey there," Klein said kindly, a small smile across his face.

The teen was startled by the sudden sound, but the smile across a stranger's face seemed to comfort him.

"Are you afraid?" Klein asked kindly

"Y…yes….aren't you?"

"Well….yes, I am to be honest. I am afraid of dying, but I won't let myself become a victim. I have people who are counting on my to survive, and lead them. I can't let them down, and I can't let myself down."

"Do you think help will come?"

"I hope they do manage a way to get us out…but if what Kayaba says is true….well, I doubt they'll try something since they'll be to cautious to try something. So, the surest way to escape this place, this world, is the get to the top floor and beat it. "

"Do you think it's possible?"

"If we get enough people working together, I think we can do anything. And it is possible to survive out in the wilds. My friends and myself were out all day long, and we survived and leveled up. So can you, and everyone else in the game. If we all work together that is. "

The teen nodded and looked down, frowning slightly. "I…I think you're right."

Klein smiled at the other. "I'm Klein by the way, what's your name?"

"My in-game name is Jyth…thank you." Jyth replied wiping the rest of his tears from his eyes.

"I think I'll try going out there and fighting tomorrow. I have friends here who started this with me, We'll get out together."

Klein nodded with a smile, before he pushed himself up, Jyth joining him in standing. Giving a wave Klein turned from the boy and began to walk off. A moment later, Jyth came darting past him. Seems like he has something to do.

Giving a quick glance to the other's in the alleyway, their eyes were trailing him. They heard what he said, and they had to be thinking about what he said.

Good.

There was still much more to do, and many more people to help.

Klein continued walking throughout the streets, trying to helping people, and trying to give people hope of a better future. A future back in the real world. Though there were things that he saw that disheartened him.

There was a multitude of young children, too young to have been normally in the game. Too young to be trapped in a life or death game with little hope of escape.

Klein knew he could not help them. He was never that good with young kids.

As Klein continued his journey throughout the city, his attention came to a young women staring blankly into a deep well.

Klein made his way in her direction, and it did not take him long to arrive.

The women was wearing the standard gear that all new players were, and its shade of color was a dark blue. She had long brown hair and green eyes, covered by a pair of glasses.

"Hello there beautiful….might I ask why you're staring down into that well there?" Klein inquired with a small smirk across his lips.

The women jumped at the sound of Klein's voice and turned to face him. Her gaze was filled with fear and sadness.

"I…I'm sorry I didn't hear you there…" she began, before she quickly turned her attention back to the wall.

"M…my husband who joined the game with me jumped into the well claiming this was all a lie…that Kayaba couldn't actually kill us and told me to follow him…" she began as tears began to stream down from her eyes.

Klein grimaced at the women, before glancing at the well himself. "I don't think you should jump down that well…on the off chance that this is real and consequences are real…" his voice trailed off and he shook his head.

"I…I know…that's why I didn't follow. But how can I help? I'm afraid I'll die….I'm a school teacher not a solider, I taught kid for heaven's sake!" the women exclaimed loudly before continuing.

"I have a one year old daughter that I need to take care of to…but if I do die in this game, she'll be left alone…."

Klein felt anger rise up inside of him at the thought of this women's life being torn from her. Though Klein knew she had the ability to make a difference.

"You're right, you shouldn't fight to clear the game. You can't leave your daughter orphaned if this is a death game….but there is something you could do to help." Klein informed her kindly.

The women's eyes perked up as she looked at Klein. "What is it?"

"There are a lot of young kids huddled around the city, with no to help and guide them. Most of the people will focus on surviving and won't stop to help them…but you, you are a teacher. You could help them. Your role could be to help the kids trapped here leave with as little mental trauma as possible…"

Her eyes lit up with hope. "You're right…It's my duty to help them…."

Klein nodded with a smile, as he took a step back. "Go and help them. Someone has to."

Klein smiled as the woman began to run off, before she suddenly stopped and glanced at the man who had given her hope. "What's your name? My name is Sasha…and thanks. Thanks for giving me an actual purpose. A reason to survive."

Klein felt intense happiness that he had truly helped someone. "My name's Klein, I hope you don't mind me being to forward, but as I mentioned, before you are attractive…"

Sasha's cheeks tinted red slightly as she scoffed, her eyes narrowing. "I'm still holding onto the hope that my husband isn't actually dead, thank you very much!" Sasha's voice was filled with a slight amount of animosity as she turned away and left Klein standing alone.

Taking a deep breath, Klein turned his own back and proceeded towards the main plaza. The day was over.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, thank you for reading chapter two of my SAO fan-fiction. There are a few things I'd like to ask, or say. I have set up an , and will be adding it into my profile description, so if you have any questions or wish to ask something do it there. Secondly, I am looking a picture to use as a book cover. Since I am not artist, anything I'd go and use would end up not being my property, and thus I probably do not have the rights to actually use anything as a cover photo. So that is something I'm looking to add if there is someone who wishes to help me. I'm not a thief.

Thank you, once again, Gfellha

* * *

As Klein and his friends made their way to an inn after regrouping from their escapades through the starting city. They each took a seat at a table in the inn they had chosen to take residence up at.

Despite how it was dark outside, it was fairly dead inside and the four players sat in silence, and eating the food that they ordered.

Issin finally broke the silence. "So, I set up a training session thing for tomorrow, I was saying the meeting time was eleven at the boar quest giver near the one gate."

Klein gave a small nod, as he lightly rocked back in his chair. "So, eleven, that'll give us plenty of time to get up in the morning. I just hope that there will be people who actually show up."

Dale gave a small nod, before stretching. "Yah, though I think this depressive atmosphere will lessen starting tomorrow. They'll act better after a good night's sleep. If they can get one of those."

Klein glanced towards the others. "So, while I going through the city I picked up another quest, the Mutant Boar, wanna do that tomorrow?"

The group all gave a small nod of agreement.

That was when a new face entered the door, a man with light blue hair, and he had a straight sword on his side, and semi fancy shield across his back. He kinda reminded Klein of a knight in training. His face was sharp, Klein had to admit. He was handsome.

He quickly glanced around the inn, and when his eyes rested on Klein and his friends he finally walked over. "Hmmm, yes, I think you're the ones. You're the one who were going around telling people of a training session tomorrow right?"

Klein gave a small nod. "Yah, it's at eleven, but from the looks of yourself, you're already doing a good job. So why are you here?"

Pulling over a seat, this knight sat down. "I was wondering how much you know about the basic mechanics? Sword skills, switching, and so on."

Klein gave a small nod. "Well, I was taught all about sword skills, the prose and the cons, and for switching I know how it's done, but not the mechanics."

The blue haired man gave a small nod. "I thought you wouldn't know everything, well I'll give you a quick rundown. When you switch with another player, the agro, or hate as it's called in this game, is evenly split between the two. Also, you can't use the switch mechanic if you're the target of an attack."

Klein nodded. "Hmmm, that's useful for tanking. Thanks for telling me, erm, who are you?"

"Oh me? I'm Diavel. Nice to meet you. Well, anyways I'll be off, and just so you know, if you want to level hard you should probably train as much as possible. Day and night."

Klein gave Diavela quizzical look, before giving a shrug. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind, I'll see you around Diavel. I'm Klein by the way."

And with that blue haired man left the inn.

"That was weird, and random." Klein commented, before standing. "and on that note, I think I'm going to retire for the evening."

As Klein's eyes fluttered open the next morning, her gazed at the semi-familiar ceiling and let out a soft sigh. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Klein glanced around the inn room, his eyes trailing across the bland features of the room. Looking through the window as the light from the outside filtered through the window, illuminating the room.

"So….it wasn't a dream…. this world really is real."

Klein collapsed back down onto the bed before letting out yet another loud sigh, and dragging one of the thin blankets back over him.

"I wanna go back home…to my warm bed…to my multitude of blankets…and where I can order my favorite pizza." He groaned and complained softly to himself.

Despite how Klein was trying to motivate people to go out, and explore this vast word, he didn't have that much faith in himself. He was afraid that he was going to let down his friends, and anyone else who put their faith in him. Issin, Dale, and Dynamm, their lives were in his hand. He was their unofficial leader, but Klein never really wanted to lead before.

In previous MMO's, Klein was never the defacto leader of their group, they usually found another group of players and joined their guild, but leadership there, and here was different.

In a normal MMO, the leadership organized the raids, and kept the bickering and fights to minimum, unlike here, in Sword Art Online, a leader was in charge of the lives of their subordinates.

There was a big difference, and Klein knew that people could only follow someone they truly trusted. Dale, Issin, and Dynamm trusted him, they were already following his lead, but Klein, he didn't trust himself. He felt he was out of his depth.

As Klein was consumed by his thoughts, a sudden knock sounded through the room, and his attention instantly went straight to the door.

"Yo, Klein, you need to get up. It's an hour till the meeting time that Issin set. Where we were gonna do a little training session to help everyone along."

Klein let out a small sigh. "Yah, I remember. I thought waking up in this game might be a little easier. It isn't. I'm still not a morning person, guess that can't be helped."

Outside the door, he heard Dale chuckle.

Pushing himself back up, and then off the bed. Klein stretched. It felt weird how none of his bones cracked, but then again, he didn't actually have any. None of this was real, atleast in the sense of what he was used to.

Swiping down to open the menu, Klein equipped his gears, as well as his sword, and his brand new light shield he and Dynamm purchased last night.

Giving one last stretch, Klein opened the door and exited to the inn's upper hallway, and there was standing his bulbous friend, Dale.

Dale tossed a roll of bread to Klein, which Klein did in fact catch. "You're the last one up, everyone else has eaten already, and we don't have a lot of time left before the meeting. I knew you were bad in the mornings, but I didn't think you'd be this bad."

Taking a bit of the bread, Klein tasted the bland flavor, before giving his friend a light punch on the shoulder. "Come on, we better get going."

Together Klein and Dale walked down the steps into the inn's main room. It was rather packed this time, but most of the players were wasting what little col they had on inn's crappy beer. These players seemed to have given up. Seeing how they had already succumbed to being drunks. Klein new he really couldn't do anything to aid them.

When Dale pointed out Issin and Dynamm, Klein quickly made his way over to them.

"Morning guys, let's get out of here."

The other two each expressed their own morning greetings before getting up, out of their seats aswell.

Together the four members walked out of the inn, and into the streets of the starting city.

Unlike last night, there were more players now who seemed to have accepted what they all heard in the main square yesterday. There were even a few trying to cheer up others, probably their friends.

While the mood was still dark, and depressive, there were more than a few players who were attempting to make the scene a bit less dark.

"I wonder how long it'll take people to get truly adjusted to this world." Klein mused, glancing at his friends.

Each of them gave a noncommittal shrug. None of them had any idea how long it would take before most of the population accepted that it wasn't a dream.

As they made their way to the gate, Klein stopped in a section of the road that was empty, and he turned towards his friends.

"We should be there soon….but I do want to say something first. I don't want us to give the players there our name. Just hear me out. This is a death game, and we're taking it into ourselves to train these players in the game, so they'll probably look up to us through some means. The reason why I don't want us to give them our names, is because if the unthinkable does happen, and we do die, they will never know. If that did happen, and they did know out names, it'd probably kill their personal moral. So, that is why I don't want them to know our names. Also, we're doing this to help people, so we can have more players who can help beat this game. We're not doing it for recognition."

Issin, Dale, and Dynamm glanced at each other and gave a small nod, Dale taking the lead and speaking. "I understand what you're saying, but we're not going to die. Not at all."

Dynamm simply let out a small sigh and nodded. "I get it, I get it. I just won't use my teaching skills to get a pretty lady."

"Dynamm, even if tried, that probably wouldn't work out." Issin while nudged Dynamm's shoulder.

A moment later they all burst into laughter. It took them a minute to get calmed down.

Klein smiled at his friends' optimistic attitudes, before giving Dale a slight punch. "Good, because if any of you die, I'll kill you myself."

In the end, they all laughed again and shrugged before they continued to make their way to gate, right next to the boar killing quest giver.

There was already a decent sized group, there had to be at least forty people.

That sight of the people gathered made Klein smile. These were players who were trying to learn this world, and he'd, once again, have a chance to pass of his knowledge that he learned from Kirito, and more recently, Diavel, to these new players.

The four players joined the small crowd of players. They were all glancing around, and many of the players were talking about the people who would be running this tutorial session. They had no idea who it would be.

It took a little bit to get through the crowd, and once they were on the other side, near the quest giver, Klein climbed onto some wooden barrels and drew the crowd's attention.

"Alright everyone, I'm the one who's going to be giving you guys a little session on how to play this game. I spent most of the day yesterday getting the basics of this game under control with my friends here. We're going to split into four even groups based on our weapon skills."

"I'm Bandana guy." Klein said before he began to refer to Dale, Issin, and Dynamm. "And these are Cleaver, Spearer, and, erm, Pirate Guy!"

As Klein gave each of their friends their fake names, they each gave him slightly annoyed glances. All them accept for Dynamm, who seemed rather pleased with his name.

"Alright, we'll split into groups in a moment. I want everyone to get the boar killing quest from this NPC here, since we'll be training using the boars as targets. They are not very strong, so don't worry about them to much."

Klein took a few deep breaths, as everyone who hadn't picked up the quest already, moved to grab it. Once everyone had calmed down, and returned to their respective rows, Klein spoke again.

"Alright, whoever is going to be using a spear like weapon I want you to go with Spearer. That includes staves, spears, halberds, and so on. "

Issin, raised his hand to wave to them all, and began to lead them off, out through the main gate.

"Alright, next, anyone who uses a two-handed weapon, follow Cleaver. That include great swords, great axes, and so on."

This time, the pudgy Dale raised his hand, and gathered his group and they to also walked off, out of the gates as well.

There was about half the group left, and Klein nodded. "Alright, I take it you're all one-handed weapon users, well we'll split into two groups here. Right do the middle. The left side will go with Dy….I mean pirate guy, and the rest will come with me."

With the rest of the groups set, Dynamm and Klein set of with their groups. As he left past through the main gates he saw both Issin and Dale giving their speeches on how the targeting system, and combat generally works within the game.

Here, Dynamm and Klein parted ways. Klein took in a deep breath as he walked off, leading his group of trainees. Despite this being all fake, it really did smell like a fresh summer breeze out here.

The landscape was green, and in the distance, there were rolling plains, forest with green trees, and father off, there were even some snowcapped mountains adding details to the distance.

He didn't want to admit it, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful, better than any other game he played, whether it be an MMO, or otherwise.

When Klein was far enough away from the other groups, he turned and stopped. As he glanced over he noticed a familiar face in his section of the trainees. Jyth, the kid who he helped motivate yesterday, and he was standing next to a cloaked figure, who had red locks of hair hanging out from the hood. Though, Klein couldn't tell much more about the cloaked figure.

Taking a deep breath, Klein drew everyone's attention again, and then once again launched into explanation of sword skills, how they worked, the pros and the cons.

When Klein finished with his detailed explanation, he went to show them. Brandishing his curved blade, and his new light shield, Klein was ready to fight. There was a blue boar that was walking nearby, and Klein instantly went close to draw its attention

The boar charged at him. Normally he'd have moved to dodge, but rather, this time, he stopped the boar dead in its tracks by blocking it with his shield.

Klein let out a loud grunt as the boar rammed into his light shield. He was pushed back at bit, but the boar was forced to halt.

While he was surprised at the strength behind the small boar, Klein didn't forget take his chance.

Activating his sword skill, Reaver, he struck forward giving the boar a quick blow to the side, before once again returning to his shielded stance.

It only took another blow to finish the off the boar.

Turning his attention back to the group, there were a few claps.

"Alright, everyone, since we have so many people here, I want you to group up in pairs. This will be a good chance to work on team work, and switching, something which I didn't explain before."

"Switching is a mechanic that's activated between two players. They more or less switch position. Though, they don't just swap positions, as player A switches with player B, player B gets half of the agro that player A had, and player A's agro drops by half aswell. Generally, that's great when your tanking so it's easier to switch, then just walking out of combat. But just remember, you can't switch while being attacked. So it would be best to switch right an enemy attacks, while it's going through its Post-Motion state. Generally you switch so you can a moment to use potions to recover your health."

The players nodded, before breaking off into groups of two, there was one group of three, due to an uneven number, but that didn't matter. Together they all went off and began to engage in fighting the blue boars.

Glancing from a distance, the other groups of trainees had also broken off into smaller combat groups, the same as Klein's. As he eyed the groups, he noticed that in Issin's group there was a familiar player, Keita was his name, working on his two handed staff attacks.

Everyone seemed to be catching on rather quickly, so Klein was only watching to make sure that they didn't do anything stupid. Today, the fields were filled with a multitude of players, working together, fighting the boars, and learning how to survive in this world.

What made Klein's day, was that many the players looked like they were having fun while fighting the boars, that they had forgotten that they were in a death game.

As he glanced over his group, he noticed Jyth had teamed up with the cloaked figure. Jyth held a one handed straight sword as he battled the boars, while his companion held a curved blade, just like Klein's. They must be friends.

After around two hours of training, Klein gathered everyone up and smiled. Dale, Issin, and Dynamm stood next to him as he spoke to the entire group. "You guys are fast learners. You've clearly gotten the basic game mechanics down, so there's not much else I can help you with. Though, I think it would be a good idea to remind you that you're in a death game…"

At the mention of that little fact, a few of the more joyous faces hardened, and they averted their gazes to the side.

"Remember, there's no need to take unwarranted risks. If things are getting dangerous, fall back. This…. this is the real world now. You're lives are important. Protect them, so we all may see the real light of day once again. If you see another player, or players in harm, try and help them. Try and make people understand that we can beat this game, that we can escape, if we work together. So, until next time. Stay safe!"

With that, their group disbanded, several players continued to go off into the fields, some went back to the town. Overall, everyone seemed rather happy with the training session.

"Alright, now time for the rest of our day. We were going to do the Mutant Boar quest, right?" Klein asked his friends.

Issin gave a small nod. "Yes, that is what we discussed last night after we returned to the inn. I assume the Mutant Boar quest will have us fight against some form a mini-boss."

Klein nodded in understanding. "That makes sense, well I'll take the lead then."

As Klein and company went off towards the quest location, they were all rather relaxed. They were talking, and joking, and generally having a merry time, though the walk itself was rather short.

It took them around twenty minutes to reach it, and when they did, Klein decided to make them drop the chatter.

There was a small farm up ahead, but it wasn't populated, the farm house, and the barn were all in bad shape. There were holes in the walls, broken windows, and so on.

Together they moved forward, Klein and Dyanmm taking the lead, each of them brandishing their sword and shield. While, behind them, Dale, and Issin withdrew their own weapons.

Klein stopped as he heard a loud snorting sound, and he turned his attention towards the direction of the sound. It was the barn, and Klein caught sight of a large blue furry creature inside.

"I see, it's in the barn, I'll draw its attention and draw it out here guys. Dynamm, wait for the switch, and if this boar can call in other mobs, take care of them. The basic boars shouldn't be that much of a problem."

Moving forward, Klein moved in and entered the barn. Once inside, he was face to face with the red eyes of the massive boar. It stared at him. Even though this was just a game, Klein couldn't help but feel intimated.

Suddenly the boar rammed its head forward, Klein blocked it with his shield, just barely managing to keep is balance from the strong strike. He saw his HP drop slightly from the damage that did get through.

Klein swung his curved blade, striking the boar with a strike, a red line formed across the boar's snout before disappearing.

Directly after his strike, Klein retreated backwards, guiding the boar out. Once it was out of the barn, Dale attacked its left side, while Issin struck at its right.

Before Klein lost his agro to Dale's and Issin's superior damage, the player used his hate skill, Fighting Spirit to keep the attention onto him.

Each time the boar made an attack, Klein braced himself behind his light shield, blocking the boars strike, and then reacting with a strike of his own. Klein's HP did continually lower, but the mini boss didn't deal that much.

When it's Hp reached halfway, it suddenly, it let out a loud howl and a large amount of the basic blue boars started to come out. They came out of the destroyed town home, and the barn.

When Klein noticed the amount of blue boars, he knew Dynamm would have some trouble, so he had to think quickly. "Dale, Issin, break off and help Dynamm with the boars. I'll keep the boss on myself. Once you finish dealing with most of them, switch with me Dynamm."

And with thate Dale and Issin followed Klein's commands and went to deal with adds that joined in. It didn't take very long, as the blue boars only took one or two strikes to deal with.

What was dangerous was how Klein's HP was continually dropping. The Mutant Boar's attacks were getting quicker, and quicker, leaving him less chances to attack or even react.

Slowly Klein's health began to drip into the orange as the boar battered away at his shield. Things weren't going as well as he planned, there were far more adds then he thought would have been sent.

Klein didn't even need to use his hate skill to keep the boar occupied now, since he was the only close to it, he had its full attention.

Dynamm had done a good job of drawing the attention of the basic boar adds, giving Issin, and Dale an easy chance to deal with the small horde that come to the mutant's aid.

Dynamm was also mainly of the defensive, he shields jaunting back and forth to block the charging boars that were aiming at him. Thankfully, Dale and Issin were making quick work of the boars, but the pirate looking player was still worried as he watched Klein's Hp continually drop lower and lower.

Finally, when there only five boars left, Dynamm decided that it was time to switch out Klein. In comparison, Dynamm was still in the green, while Klein's hp had just dropped into the red.

Due to the boar's quick strikes, Klein couldn't use the switch feature to back out combat. But there was a silver lining. Klein hadn't been able to use a hate skill.

So as Dynamm arrived, and struck at the giant blue beast, he used his own hate skill, drawing the beasts attention towards himself.

When Dynamm used his hate skill the boar's attention instantly switch, giving Klein the chance to back off. Quickly, he withdrew a healing potion from his inventory and began to use it on himself.

"Damn it, I forgot how long these things take…" he groaned to himself as he watched his health bar slowly drip up, closing in on his max HP. It would be a little bit before his health was restored.

Though, that didn't seem to matter, as Dale and Issin finished mopping up the rest of the adds, and returned to dealing damage to the actual boss.

Dale and Issin were using their sword skills quite nicely, dealing large chunks of damage against the mutant boar, and Dynamm was keeping beasts attention solely focused on him.

As the fight drew to a close, Dale used his final sword strike, he activated a new sword skill. While the normal Cleave was a wide arcing swing, this one dug into the ground, and give a powerful upward strike.

As his blade carved a red line deep within the beast, it stopped, and shuddered before bursting into a series of pixels.

Instantly after the fight they all fall to the ground, panting heavily.

"That was a lot more difficult than I thought it would have been…" Klein mused softly, as he pushed himself up.

They all nodded in agreement.

Klein couldn't help but wonder how difficult the other bosses were going be in this game, if this mini boss gave them trouble, how difficult would the floor bosses be in comparison?


End file.
